Ethiopian nurses his future at College of Coastal Georgia

Saturday

BRUNSWICK - Wonduante Ayalew is like many students who attend the College of Coastal Georgia.

He likes living by the ocean and the mild winter weather.

"It's not too cold, and the beach is cool, too," he said.

But Ayalew is farther from home than any of his classmates in the college's nursing program.

He came to Coastal Georgia from Atlanta, but the state capital is a second hometown for him.

Ayalew, 25, is from Gondar, Ethiopia, a city of about 140,000.

He came to the U.S. five years ago to live with his aunt, Rediet Melaku, a respiratory therapist at Emory University in Atlanta.

"Atlanta is a big city, too crowded for me and too much traffic, though," he said.

But that's not what drove him to South Georgia three years ago.

He was working at a farmer's market in the Atlanta area to make ends meet with plans of going to college. Ayalew figured it would be too difficult to work and go to college at the same time no matter where he was.

He heard about the Job Corps in Brunswick and the medical assistance course there, which piqued his interest as a starting point to his extended schooling and his ultimate career choice.

"People in my family are in the medical field," Ayalew said. "I wanted to go into that, but maybe something else. I wasn't sure. My aunt [in Atlanta] told me if I was interested in the medical field, I should go into it and give it a try. I think I've made the right decision."

After finishing the program at the Job Corps, Ayalew enrolled at the College of Coastal Georgia to pursue a nursing degree with the help of financial aid.

Now a full-time student with a 3.5 grade point average, Ayalew is essentially receiving a free education through Georgia's Hope Scholarship program and an additional scholarship awarded by the college. "That's really cool," he said of the scholarships. "I never would have thought it would be like this. It is nuts."

Once he completes his degree at Coastal Georgia, Ayalew, who shares an apartment with a Kenyan roommate who works as a surgical technician at Southeast Georgia Health System, hopes to attend medical school.

He doesn't know where he will end up but attending Emory and working at the hospital there would suit him just fine.

Ayalew also knows he will have to eventually choose a career path to take in the medical profession. He's thinking he'd like to be a doctor or a therapist like his aunt.

"To practice and work back at home is the goal," he said. "But that may be a long time. I will probably work here and get more experience first. It's also good to help those who help pay for you."

By that he meant helping out the Americans who are providing him what he considers a great place to live and a quality education.

"I'd always planned to come to U.S.A. because the education is much better here," Ayalew said. "And really, you can live better here than in Africa. You have more freedom to do what you want. Over there, you have limits."

John Cornell, director of public relations and marketing for the local college, said the school expects to attract more students such as Ayalew in the future as it continues to progress toward a four-year university. The first campus housing will open next fall with a 320-bed facility that will help draw students from all over, maybe even foreign countries.

And if any of those future international students are like Ayalew, they may show their gratitude to the U.S. by first putting their education to use here before taking it back to their homelands to help out their fellow countrymen.

That's what Ayalew has in mind, at least.

"I want to help people," he said. "A lot of people in my country are dying of HIV, malaria and things like that. When you see them, you wish you could help them."

Ayalew said that heath care is a major problem in Ethiopia. Somehow, some way, he hopes to make a difference there one day.

"If you see a doctor today and you need surgery, it may be a month or two or longer before you can get it," he said. "The doctors are too busy or don't have the supplies.

"To see a private doctor instead of a government or public doctor, it's too expensive. There might also be only one or two doctors for about 50,000 people."

The shortage is caused partly because of government policies that are unfair to doctors, he said.

"I hope I can make it better,'' he said. "If I go back and people see me helping other people, maybe they will want to do the same."

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